Shrimp or Swim?

So your probably wondering what is up with the title of this post?  It is my somewhat feeble attempt at a play on the phrase sink or swim.  What does this mean you ask? I think I may have gotten to a point in my life where clogging my arteries continually or maybe I just wanted some seafood and thought i would challenge my skills in creative dish making.  Either way you look at it I made what I feel is a tasty creation that is also good for you. For lack of a better description I think we will keep it simple and call it my Twisted Shrimp Salad.

So you may be wonderind what makes it twisted and how can I make this. Well it's quite easy and here are the directions as well as the recipe list.

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb of peeled and deviened Shrimp
• 2 heads of mixed lettuce mix
• 1 - 2 medim sized cucumbers sliced
• 1 small can of mandrin oranges
• 1/4 cup of quality extra virgin olive oil
• 1/8 cup white balsamic vinegar
• 1/8 cup of liquid from mandarin orange can.
• Sea salt for taste and seasoning of shrimp
• Twisted all purpose spice mix
• Fresh ground pepper for seasoning and dressing

Directions

1. Season shrimp with sea salt and twisted spice mix(if you do not have any twisted spice mix you can use pepper or a Cajun spice mix) and let sit while you prepare the rest.
2. Rough chop your lettuce to bite size and add combine with cucumbers in a salad bowl.
3. Put some olive oil in a pan on the stove over medium heat. Once the pan is heated add the shrimp(depending on the size of the shrimp will directly affect your cooking time) it should take about 2-3 minutes on each side.
4. While shrimp is cooking combine olive oil, white balsamic, mandarin juice, sea salt & fresh cracked pepper. Whisk together to combine
5. Add mandarin oranges to salad mix and pour dressing over salad. Toss to evenly coat
6. Take any remaining mandarin juice and use it to deglaze the pan that the shrimp are cooking in.
7. Put shrimp in salad and pour the rest of the pan glaze into the salad and toss again.

Ready to serve and enjoy.

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I did.

I'm tired of waiting for spring, so I made spring on a plate.

I have received many questions on why I do not have pictures on my posts....when I say many I mean 1 or 2 but that is still better than no one looking at my post! ;)

Anyway, I was getting ready to go to the 1st Annual Sledding at Chef Mic's house event (I guess I should let her know that we plan on doing that again) and I needed to take some sort of appetizer or fun snack.  I was trying to figure out what to make.. I wanted to have tasty cucumbers, but then I also wanted salsa, so I made the best of both and made Black Bean & Corn Salsa in cucumber cups.  This was really easy to make and you will impress your friends and family with this tasty creation.  Here is what I used and the approximate seasonings.  I am a firm believer in seasoning to personal taste and recommend that you follow that mind set while keeping in mind that you can always put more spice in, but it's really hard to take it out!!



Black Bean & Corn Salsa in Cucumber Cups
Ingredients

• 1-15oz can of black beans
• 1-15oz can of sweet corn
• 1 Orange bell pepper small diced
• 5-6 green onions small sliced with root end removed
• 1 beef steak tomato small diced
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup of Greek salad dressing
• Salt & Fresh cracked pepper to taste
• 2 -4 English cucumbers

Directions

1. Peel English cucumbers and slice off the ends.
2. Cut cucumbers into half inch rounds and scoop out the middle with a melon baller leaving a little left in the middle to form your cup. ( I know what your thinking and it is OK to use a melon baller on other fruits and veggies besides just melons)
3. Combine the first six ingredients and season to taste with salt and fresh cracked pepper.  I prefer to use sea salt, but use what ever you are used to.
4. Portion Salsa mixture into cups and serve right away.

Chef Note:  You may find that you have more salsa than cucumbers when preparing this dish.  Don't panic you can put the leftover salsa in a dish and use it with chips.  Or if you wanted to really step out side the box, you could use it as a garnish on a tasty snapper or scallop dish.

Remember that you are only limited by your own imagination when it comes to cooking.  I look forward to hearing your comments.

I also remembered to take some pictures as well.

Cleaning out the Fridge

As I typed the title for this post I had the Eminem song Cleaning out my Closet stuck in my head.  So what does that have to do with anything else in this post you say?  Absolutely nothing.  It just made me chuckle so I thought I would share it with all y'all (You see I am going under the assumption that more than 2 people will read this post).

Anyway back to the reason for this post. I have participated in many discussions about the importance or lack there of for following a recipe exactly to the letter or measure as the case may be.  My thoughts are that if you want the recipe to taste exactly as the author intended it to be then by all means follow the recipe exactly. I am more of a culinary rebel as many of my past Chef instructors and friends will tell you. Cooking is much like art and once you understand the basics of the recipe you then should take some risk and make the recipe your own.

Now let's take it a step farther.....yes I'm about to suggest it....don't panic or call Martha I promise it's going to be OK........here it is...cooking without a recipe!

Yes I understand that cooking without a recipe for some folks can be a stressful ordeal.  There are 2 things that I feel are key when choosing to go this route.

1. Don't underestimate your own ability for awesomeness.
2. Don't be afraid to fail. (This one is especially important. You will find that you learn more from making a mistake than if you get it right every time)

So why am I rambling on about all this today?

Well let's get back to the title of this post. "Cleaning out the Fridge"

I was trying to figure out what to have for lunch today and thought that I would go with my usual pasta and sauce. So I started with a pot of boiling water and found an onion that was begging to be julienned and caramelized. I then came across a carrot that wanted to be added to the fun with the onion. Wait what is this leftover corn from last nights dinner! That's right into the pool with the other veggies. Add a little pepper and sea salt and while perusing the spice rack what grabs my eye.....that's right Turkish seasoning.(didn't see that coming did you) I put some orzo in the boiling water and now have 7-8 minutes to finish making whatever this is in the pot into something that won't give my stomach the rumblies.  Not a problem just add some ground beef and some tomato sauce......so I added the ground beef and decided to take a peak in the fridge to see what else might speak to me for a different sauce than tomato.  That is when the last 2 ingredients jumped out of the fridge.  Hoisin sauce and Greek vinaigrette dressing! Now quit making that face that I know you making. With all the ingredients combined it made a very tasty lunch for me.

Did the ingredients make sense together? Not really but that has never stopped me before and I encourage all ya'll to take a page from my book and try it yourself sometime.

So here is the order that I put everything in the pot, but as I didn't measure anything I can give approximations but it's up to you to season to taste and let me know how yours turned out.

1 small julienned onion put into a hot pan over medium heat with some olive oil to began the caramelization process.
Next I added one carrot that I biased cut and added to the pan.
After the onion has caramelized and the carrot is starting to become soft at about 1/2 cup or the corn.
Add salt and pepper to taste(I used about half a tablespoon of each) and about 1 & 1/2 teaspoons of Turkish seasoning.
Next I added a 1/2 cup of already cooked ground beef.
Last but not least add about 1/8 cup of hoisin sauce and 1/8 cup of Greek vinaigrette dressing and mix into the rest of the pot.

I mixed about 1 cup of cooked orzo with the above concoction and walla!!! Tasty Goodness.

Well I'll leave you to it for now and look forward to hearing stories of your kitchen adventures as well.

Until next time keep your stomachs happy and your mouths full....not entirely sure what that means but it sounds like fun.

Alaskan Salmon Goodness

As I have mentioned before I love to put fun twists on dishes.  This is a recipe that I put together and competed with while I was in school for a caramel competition.  The owner of Becky's Blissful Bakery wanted the HCC Club at WCTC to use her wonderful caramel sauce in an savory application.  You can also view some of the other recipes of other student chefs who competed. http://www.beckysblissfulbakery.com/caramels/caramel-sauce

Alaskan Salmon w/ Mango Caramel Sauce served with Caramel Wild Rice and Vegetable Medley

Ingredients

Sauce

1 Mango peeled and diced

1 cucumber peeled, seeded and diced

1 cup heavy cream
2 T of Caramel sauce

TT salt and pepper

Salmon & Rub

4 4-6oz filet of Alaskan salmon with skin off

2 T of smoked paprika

½ T of cayenne pepper

1 T onion powder

1 T Garlic powder

 ½ T Kosher Salt

½ T fresh cracked black pepper

Wild Rice and Vegetable Medley

1 yellow onion peeled and small dice

1 red bell pepper peeled & small dice

1 yellow bell pepper peeled & small dice

1 pint baby Bella mushrooms small dice

1 cup Lundberg wild rice blend
1 1/2 T caramel sauce

Directions

Sauce

Combine the mango, cucumber & cream in a food processor and puree very fine.

Put sauce into sauce pan and cook on a medium heat for 10 – 15 minutes

Add the Caramel sauce and stir until dissolved.

Add salt and pepper as needed for taste.

If a smoother sauce is desired you can strain finished sauce through some cheese cloth or a china cap.

Salmon & Rub

Combine all the dry spices and rub over both sides of the salmon and set to the side for 20 minutes.

Heat up pan to a medium high heat with a little bit of Olive Oil

Cook Salmon in hot pan 2-3 minutes each side be sure not to over cook

Wild Rice & Vegetable Medley

Cook rice according to instructions on bag. (keep in mind that the rice takes an hour to cook)

Combine onions & bell peppers in a pan and sauté them until they are cooked but not mushy about 5 minutes.

 Add Bella mushrooms and cook for another 3 minutes

 Season with smoked paprika, cayenne, salt & pepper to taste and let cook 3 more minutes

Add 1 ½ T of Caramel sauce and let melt and coat vegetables

 Combine vegetable mixture with wild rice making sure to reserve some of the vegetable mixture for Garnish of your salmon.

Presentation

Put a dollop of the mango caramel sauce on the plate and set the cooked salmon on top of it. Take a small ring mold or ½ cup measuring cup and fill with wild rice & vegetable medley and place on plate next to salmon.

Take some of the reserved vegetable medley and place it on top of the salmon.

Give this recipe a shot and give your family a tasty dinner treat!  Let me know how it worked out for you.

Getting Started

What is this Blog all about?

I consider myself a twisted culinarian that likes to take everyday food and present them in a different light. Giving people a chance to try food in ways that they might not necessarily do themselves or have even thought of putting those flavor combinations together.

I also like to impart knowledge to others to help them grow in their culinary journeys as well.  If there is a topic you would like to discuss or a dish twisted for you I welcome the input and challenge.

My goal is for this blog to be as fun for you to follow as it will be for me to post on.